The podium winners after the second race at Losail International Circuit on Saturday.
Doha: Defending champion Abdulla Al Khelaifi enjoyed another perfect round at the Qatar Touring Car Championship as he again clinched a double at Losail International Circuit on Saturday.
In the first race, Al Khelaifi, who started from pole position, took the lead from the start to the checkered flag and emerged the winner in front of Mansoor Al Hajri by 1.516. The third place in the podium was for Adham El Dib.
Second race, with the reverse grid and starting from the last position in the grid, Al Khelaifi had a big fight with Mansoor Al Hajri and Hamad Al Asam but again he took the win.
In the second race, he crossed the line in front of Al Asam by 1.241. Al Hajri was again in the podium in third position.
Al Khelaifi was delighted with another double victory.
“In the first race, my start was good. Hamad had a problem in the start so I secured first corner and from there I built a gap but Mansoor also took advantage of Hamad problem and he got close to me,” he said.
“Then Mansoor started to put pressure, I started to put pressure on myself, so when he released I also released. The weather was very hot for the tyres and it was very difficult, so at the end of the race we all slowed down to cool down the tyers,” Al Khelaifi said.
“The second race was more exciting as I started in the last position. I had a big fight with Mansoor at the beginning and then with Hamad. Hamad was hard to pass as he had advantage in the straights and I didn’t have advantage there, only in the corners, so I tried to out breaking him and then built the same gap as race 1 and control the race from there,” he added.
“At the end of the race I had overheating and Hamad had good plan to keep the tires cold until the last lap, where he pushed the gap really quickly. I was so nervous at the last lap but I managed to finish first,” he concluded.
Al Hajri, after previous rounds struggling with his car, managed to fix the car and came back to the podium.
“Finally, after two rounds of struggling I am back in the podium. I wasn’t really prepared for this championship this season, actually I wasn’t to start as I had some problems and was not sure if I would participate this year,” said Al Hajri.
“In the first two rounds, I found a lot of issues with my car and finally I fixed it and I am back on the podium. Sadly some of the competitors were not taking part in this round but my lap time proves that I can be competitive and I can stay with the leader, with Abdullah who is flying… I need to do a lot of work,” added Al Hajri.
“The Race 2 with the reverse grid was very difficult. I managed to get into the first five position in the first lap but later it was very hard to get to the third position, Adham was very fast and he was blocking very well but I managed to pass him.
“Then Hamad and Abdullah had a really good gap, I tried in the last two laps to catch them but I needed more than two laps to at least have a challenge to fight with them but I am happy that I am back to my performance and I got good results this weekend,” Al Hijri said.
El Dib, who had a problem in the previous round with the gearbox, managed to be on the podium in the first race as in second race he finished in sixth place.
“During the practice sessions, I was doing really bad timings because of the problem I had last round that I had to change the gearbox but I managed to do some adjustments and it works. Race one was fantastic with Hamad and Mahmoud leading at the beginning but I just kept a bit behind them knowing that they would stow each other then and I managed to pass them. Happy to be back on podium again.,” he said.
After the third round, Al Khelaifi leads the standings with 116 points. Adham Eldib is second with 69 points and Mansoor Al Hajri third with 66 points.
Trophies were presented by QMMF President Abdulrahmam Al Mannai and QMMF General Secretary Abdulrazak Al Kuwari.
The next round of Qatar Touring Car Championship will be held on February 16 and 17.
